The present invention relates to VTOL aircraft and more particularly to so-called "tail-sitter" type VTOL in which the tail section of the aircraft is generally vertically disposed during take-off and landing operations. The invention will be described in terms of a specific tail sitter type of VTOL aircraft configuration known as a "nutcracker" which is described in Corbett et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,142, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated.
While VTOL's have increased flexibility as to their launch and landing capabilities, the difficulty of procedures is greatly increased where they are attempted from a moving platform; namely, a ship's deck on the open sea.
Various means have been proposed to facilitate landings of VTOL on the high seas. While these proposals have worked, they have various drawbacks including high cost and low reliability due to the size of the landing system and the need for pilot assistance. Moreover, high sea conditions may sometimes negate their functioning at all.